Synaca Thomas and Brittany Jordan: Couple Take $5 Bills and Turn Them into a Half-Million Worth of $100 Bills

A husband-wife team has been indicted for counterfeiting after allegedly spending up to $500,000 in fake $100 bills that started out as $5 bills.

Synaca Thomas, 34, and his wife Brittany Jordan, 25, of Cypress, passed the bills at Houston-area businesses for two years beginning in January 2009, the U.S. Attorney's office says.

"Thomas and Jordan obtained genuine $5 bills that they reprinted as counterfeit $100 bills," the U.S. Attorney's office said. "During the course of the conspiracy, these defendants with the assistance of unnamed co-conspirators are alleged to have made and passed approximately $500,000 in counterfeit currency to Houston area retailers including grocery and computer stores and tanning salons."

The case was investigated by the Secret Service, the Houston and Hedwig Village police departments, sheriff's offices in Harris, Fort Bend and Austin Counties and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

A conviction for conspiring to counterfeit U.S. currency carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment while each of the two counts of counterfeiting currency charges carries a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment. Fines of up to $250,000 can also be imposed as punishment in each count.